|
Author
|
Comment
|
Zenia Six Rivers
Unregistered User
(2/4/03 2:47:21 pm)
|
Nameless Charactors
Hello - I am new here. In short, I came across this site when doing
a search on the meaning of character names, and the prupose/ meaning
of nameless characters, in children's stories. I came across one
womans' point of view on children's literature/ fairy tales that
I readily identified with - link: www.firstthings.com/ftiss.../gold.html
I am hoping some of you can give me your thoughts and insights on the reasons many characters in fairy tales remain nameless. I like to think it leaves more room for the imagination. But sometimes I feel way out of step with most parents.
I have two year old twin boys, and I guess you could say I am somewhat of an alternative style parent. We don't have a TV, and my boys have no idea who Winnie the Pooh, Big Bird, or Elmo is. I read them lots of stories - at this point mostly they are generic about animals (the bunny, the hedgehog, the tiger, farm animals, etc.). I find myself subconsiously leaving names out when I read many stories, although I do include names like StellaLuna the bat. We have Rapunzel, but she is the only character in that book who has a name. There is Hansel and Gretel, but so many more stories just talk about the King, the Queen, the Prince, the Wolf, and so forth.
I have been instinctively not focusing on naming characters, but then lately I have started to think twice about it. For example, my boys have a hand-me-down Tigger they just call tiger, but everywhere we go with that toy, people recognize it as Tigger. My boys have not caught on so far. I will not entertain them with anything Disney, and we have no Sesame Street books or characters. We don't have Cliffords, Cailous, or any other mainstream characters. I won't bend on that, but sometimes I feel a subtle pressure. My "in-laws" think I'm weird.
I think what hit home to me on the question of naming/ nameless characters was my boy's recent fascination with Where the Wild Things Are - they have started saying they are Max, and raising their hands to say "STOP!," pretending I am a monster... I suppose there is a time for names, and a time for not naming.
I hope this makes sense - can you tell I'm a first time mom? (G).
Cheers!
|
Carrie
Unregistered User
(2/4/03 5:42:41 pm)
|
names
It seems to me that many tales focus on names being a source of power. Just a thought.
Also, when dealing with folklore, we are dealing with archtypal figures. Perhaps they are so ingrained that we don't need a name to always conjure an image of a character.
I have twin boys as well -- they just turned seven. You have a wonderful time ahead of you.
Cheers.
Carrie
|
Kevin
Smith
Registered User
(2/5/03 12:45:40 am)
|
naming
I agree, in that the characters really don't need proper names.
If the tales were collected (as in the Grimms) the names could be altered by a teller on each iteration, so that they might, if they felt like it, name a character after an appropriate listener.
It might be that these are archetypal figures, but it might also be that in the early nineteenth century the idea of individualisation was not as developed as it is now. At this point in history, people did not take it for granted that they were "unique individuals" completely different from everyone else on the earth, as western twenty first century audiences do. This Romantic idea, would take over a century to become ingrained into the popular consciousness.
Individual naming is also a very novelistic feature, where you have to do your best to convince the reader that they're reading something new and original (Romanticism again) rather than re-reading. If I say the names, Heathcliffe, Pumblechook, Emma Bovary, it conjures up very different characters who all seem to have different psychological drives (something that fairy tale characters rarely have) whereas even those characters who do have names, Red Riding Hood, aren't that developed as individuals and the tales can vary from version to version.
So, in conclusion: I think that there's nothing wrong with leaving fairy tale characters nameless, although I suspect that modern writers of fairy tales feel pressure to name their characters, if only because that's standard. (I can't speak for the others here, but I wonder if any of the writers have experience of this?)
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(2/5/03 2:27:17 pm)
|
Nameless
An observation: a few years ago, I read the novel "Sounder" to my then 8-year old boy. One of the most powerful things about the book was the lack of names. While one might expect that to dehumanize the characters, it seemed to have the opposite effect (much like author noted the article you referenced).
Fairy tales often have many "authors" (storytellers) and can be altered for the audience and the tellers both. I think that perhaps it is easier to adapt the tale to situation where the characters are types as opposed to individuals. Locales can become exotic or provential; characters can change to fit the local. But the characters still retain their power as humans or monsters or fairies.
You might also want to look at a related type of tale: the Urban legend. Analysis has shown that urban legends are often given third-hand idententifiable sources (i.e., my sister's friend's cousin, Andrea) which lend authenticity to the tale. The tales themselves, however, tend not to have characters with names.
FYI, I "protected" my first-born son from the influences of fad and character often to have it backfire into an obsession with him. I was much more relaxed about the other two boys with the opposite effect: they have little interest in these things. Lol, as a parent you just have to do what you feel is right - trust your own instincts. Oh, and I don't do TV either. Good luck.
Jess
|
Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(2/7/03 5:04:44 am)
|
Forget Disney
just an aside--why don't they know the REAL Winnie the Pooh? Find the original books with the Ernst Shepard drawings.
Jane
|
Zenia Six Rivers
Unregistered User
(2/13/03 6:56:15 am)
|
Thanks
Thanks for your replies!
I think I will relax a bit - and direct my boys in a direction I orefer while I still can... I will be looking for the original Winnie the Pooh!
|
summersinger
Registered User
(2/15/03 6:19:25 am)
|
Re: Thanks
Oh, absolutely find the A. A. Milne Winnie-the-Pooh books. He does some really great children's poetry, too - "Now We Are Six," etc. It was a staple of my childhood.
Actually, the way I was raised was as something of a compromise between what you're doing and the norm, and I think compromise is probably wise here. We had a TV, but I didn't know for years that there was any station besides PBS. I loved Disney movies, but I also loved the Grimm stories my parents read me every night. My sister came out much more on the pop culture side of the spectrum, and I much more on the Scottish ballad, whole-wheat bread side, so you never know how kids are going to turn out. I think you're going the right route by exposing them to lots of good stories, but exposure to pop culture is probably not going to scar them for life.
I know I've just committed a cardinal sin by giving child-rearing advice when I haven't got any kids of my own, but maybe my experience will be helpful. ::hopeful grin::
-Julia
|
|
